Author: Markus Zusak
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating:8
When I started this book I went into it with the idea that many people that I knew had read it and almost everyone had a different reaction to it. Some thought it was a pretty slow paced book for a large chunk of it. Some liked the book a lot. Some did not like the book at all. Now that I've read it, I feel as though I understand where everyone came from--the book was at times slow, good and bad. There were parts that were harder to get through because of pacing and content, and there were parts that I flew through. I left the book really liking it, and I think that part of that is Liesel, the main character.
Liesel is an orphan in Nazi Germany. She is placed with the Hubbermanns and at first she does not like her home at all, but as she gets more comfortable she starts to find her way. She starts to form a great relationship with her adoptive father Hans, and through their relationship Liesel is able to deal with some of her demons and grow as a person, learning to read and write. This love for reading blossoms into her character and the remainder of the book somehow stems from this love. Liesel's neighborhood is filled with a lot of different people, all impacting Liesel in a different way, and it was interesting to follow their progression through the book as well.
The most interesting part about the book is the means by which it was narrated, and to save the book I don't think I should share it. Let me just say that I've never read a book that was narrated the way this one was and I think I would be hard pressed to find another. I think that the way it was narrated brought a lot to the book. There were many opportunities for foreshadowing and to learn different things about the characters that you would not find out otherwise.
Overall I think that this is a book that is important enough that it should be read. I am not a fan of historical fiction and I liked the book enough that I would recommend it to my students. The message in the book is so strong, and I think many could learn from Liesel's character. Overall, it was a book that I thought about after I finished it, and has impacted the way I see things and other books. An important read.
